Envelope construction



April 17, 1945. M. MCKEEN 2,374,026

ENVELOPE CONS TRUCT ION Filed March 6, 1941 VENTOR. NarZ/za M e11 BY Yb A T TORNE YS Patented Apr. 17, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The invention relates to an improved envelope construction and more particularly to an envelope constructed in such a manner that one side face thereof will be transparent so that an enclosure placed within the envelope will be visible to the eye.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an envelope construction which will have one if its side faces composed of a transparent sheet of material.

A further object of the invention is to provide an envelope structure made from one or two sheet of transparent material and which has one side face thereof reinforced and made nontransparent by a backing of paper applied thereto.

A further object is to provide a mailing envelope which will permit printed or written matter on an enclosure placed therein to be seen through one of the side faces thereof.

A further object is to provide an envelope construction having one of its side faces composed of a transparent sheet of material, and which may be cheaply and simply manufactured and so that it will possess an exceedingly strong structure.

Other objects of the invention will be set forth -in the following description and drawing, and

will be pointed out in the annexed claim.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a front view of the improved envelope construction of my invention, and shows the closure flaps thereof before they have been scaled to enclose the contents of the envelope;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the envelope, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 345 a sectional view of the envelope taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The envelope construction of my invention is shown in the drawing as being formed of two rectangular sheets of transparent material indicated at l and 2. These sheets may be comprised of any suitable transparent material, such for instance as that known as Pliofllm." The transparent sheets are joined together along three corresponding edges of the same by fusing the material at said edges together by the application of heat, and so that there will be provided an envelope structure having the closed edges 8, 4 and 5, and the free flaps 8 and I at the upper open end thereof.

On one of the side faces of the transparent envelope thus formed there is applied a pap r backing 8. This backing may be applied to the transparent material of the envelope construction in any suitable manner, such as by gluing the same to the material. The paper backing serves as a reinforcement for the envelope structure and may have printed on the outer face thereof any suitable lettering or design, or may be used to indicate thereon the name and address of the person to whom the envelope and its contents are to be directed.

It is to be understood that instead of employing two sheets of transparent material in the construction of my improved envelope, I may also employ a single sheet and fold the same to form a closed bottom for the envelope and then fuse together the side edges.

In using the envelope construction of my invention, the enclosure desired to be inserted therein is placed in the envelope in such manner that the portion thereof which is desired to be made visible to the eye will lie underneath and adjacent to the transparent face I, which forms the back face portion of the envelope. Then the flaps 6 and 1 may be turned down and glued to said back face portion. The envelope and its contents may then be sent through the mail or otherwise delivered to the person to whom it is addressed.

It will be seen that an envelope construction such as above described will not only be exceedingly light in weight, but will also be strong in its structure because the transparent sheet or sheets of material used in its construction are much stronger and tougher than ordinary paper and there will be less tendency of the envelope being torn or injured when subjected to rough handling. Furthermore, by applying the paper backing to the transparent envelope, the structure thereof is not only reinforced and made stronger but the outer face of the paper backing also provides a suitable surface upon which a name and address may beprinted or written. It is also evident that the fusing together of the transparent material at its edges will provide an exceedingly strong joinder of the transparent material together to form an envelope closure and thus the contents of the envelope will be adequately protected from damage or from an unauthorized opening of the envelope while it is being transmitted through the mails or is being delivered to its destination by some other means.

The envelope construction of my invention will have many beneficial uses. It will be especially desirable for use in mailing advertising matter and birthday and greeting cards, and messages of all kinds where it is desired to give the receiver of the envelope and its contents an advance notice of what the subject matter of the enclosure in the envelope relates to. The envelope also may be used by placing the name and address of the receiver on the face of the enclosure which lies adJacent to the transparent side face of the envelope and so that said name and address will be visible through said transparent face.- In such case, the outer face of the paper backing could be then used for printing thereon any desired advertising or other printed matter.

Having thus described my invention, what I -claim as new and desire to secure by United Sta Letters Patent is:

An envelope construction composed of two sheets of transparent material fused together along three edges of the same to form an envelope receptacle with tree closure naps at the open end thereof and having a nontransparent paper backing applied to the outer face of one of said sheets for reinforcing said sheet and to provide a surface upon which a name and address may be written or printed said closure flaps being adapted to be folded over along the upper edge of the paper backing and sealed to the transparent material forming the back of the envelope structure.

MARTHA MCKEEN. 

